Unlike in 1994, when Republicans had a clear set of demands, the Tea Party is an unruly, inchoate and incoherent force with neither a leader nor a clear programme. At the Conservative Political Action Conference a week ago, the libertarian Ron Paul won the straw poll with 31% of the vote. Announcement of his victory by the very crowd that had just endorsed him was greeted with jeers and boos. At the Tea Party convention a few weeks ago, large numbers stayed away in protest at everything from Palin’s speaking fee to the costs of registration. Luntz has advised them to stop comparing Obama to Hitler and be more strategic in their choice of enemies and allies, but to little avail. “They don’t want to be told,” he says. “They don’t want to be lectured, they don’t want to be advised, educated, informed.” He jokes that he’s relieved to come out of those meetings without his tyres being slashed.
If you were looking for one thing that unites them, it would not be an agenda, but anger. Many are regular anti-tax, small-government social conservatives. But there are some serious Mad Hatters at this Tea Party: they believe Obama is a Muslim communist who was not born in the US – and they tend to be the loudest. As such, they are a potential liability for a Republican party that needs to reconnect with independent voters.
Not surprisingly, some Republicans like to play down their influence. “I don’t think one should get carried away by how much growth [in the Tea Party movement] there has been,” says former Bush speechwriter David Frum, who dismisses the protesters as a couple of hundred thousand malcontents in Paul Revere suits.
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